| caption = Postcard showing the great east walls of Fort Ancient, ca. 1920-1950. Fort Ancient, built 2,000 years ago by prehistoric Native Americans, is an earthworks with 18,000 feet of earthen walls enclosing 100 acres. It is located in Warren County, Ohio and maintained as a state memorial by the Ohio Historical SocietyHistory Connection.

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<p>The Hopewell culture (100 B.C. to 500 A. D.) of prehistoric Native American people constructed the earthworks. Later native residents built a village and a cemetery within the walls of the already ancient South Fort. Archaeologists mistakenly assumed that these villagers had built the earthen walls. It was called the Fort Ancient culture (1000 A.D. to 1650 A.D.) after the name of the site. This mistake has caused confusion for later students of Ohio archaeology.</p>

<p>Recent excavations at Fort Ancient have discovered the remains of Hopewell culture houses and ceremonial features both inside and outside of the enclosure walls. It is not known whether the houses located inside the enclosure were occupied before or after the enclosure was built. It also has yet to be determined whether the houses were the dwellings of more or less full time residents, or the temporary shelters of visitors.</p>

<p>The Fort Ancient Earthworks is an Ohio Historical Society History Connection site open to visitation. It is located seven miles southeast of Lebanon, in Warren County. In addition to the earthworks, the site features a museum with interpretive exhibits about Ohio's ancient past. The Fort Ancient Earthworks site also is a National Historic Landmark.</p>

==See Also==

<div class="seeAlsoText">

*[[Warren County]]

*[[Archaeology]]

*[[Ohio Historical SocietyHistory Connection]]

*[[http://www.ohiohistory.org/places/ftancien/ Fort Ancient]]

*[[http://www.ohiohistory.org/places/ftancien/fa-01.html New Discoveries at Fort Ancient]]